1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of architectural building products and in particular to apparatus comprising high density rigid urethane products or trim having a decorative appearance and an architectural shape such as, but not limited to, columns, wainscots, arches, moldings, and wall panels, and methods for making and installing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Architecturally shaped and decorative building products include moldings around the inside and outside of windows, walls, fireplaces, ceilings, and doors. Additionally, such architectural products include columns, wainscots, arches, capitals, bases and caps, pilasters, balustrades, quoins, keystones and other like decoratively shaped objects associated generally with building and other structures. In the trade, these decorative and, in some instances, functional objects are referred to as “trim.” In the recent past, these decorative building products or architectural “trim” products were made from materials such as concrete, stone, or plaster. Because of the inherent properties of such materials, the resulting product or object weighed a considerable amount and was subject to breaking from brittle fractures. In turn, the finished product was usually heavy, large and oddly shaped. With some shapes and products, reinforcing materials were used to prevent breakage during handling, transportation, installation and use. But, the reinforcing necessitated more complexity, time, effort, and costs in manufacturing. On-site fabrication was possible for some trim products which minimized handling and breakage problems, but created other manufacturing problems. Thus, regardless of whether the prior art concrete architectural trim products were reinforced, numerous manufacturing problems existed. Handling and installing the prior art concrete architectural trims were yet other problems fraught with difficulties. The heavy weight of the products required substantial supports during installation or attachment to the building structure. Maintaining exact positioning of the prior art concrete trims onto the building structure during installation was also difficult and time consuming because of the heavy weight of the concrete and the sometimes odd configuration of the architectural trims. Moreover, positioning and installation of the prior art concrete trim products most often required hand labor in that specialized machinery was generally not available. Therefore, and in general, architectural building and decorative trim products made from concrete and plaster have been problematic, to say the least.
Many of the above-stated problems and difficulties were resolved by the use of expanded polystyrene for the architectural shapes in place of the prior art use of concrete. Expanded polystyrene can be fabricated using inexpensive and easily fabricated molds. Expanded polystyrene is lightweight and therefore relatively easily handled; it is soft and therefore relatively easily cut. Expanded polystyrene is readily attachable to typical building surfaces using an appropriate adhesive. Of course, expanded polystyrene architectural trims cannot normally be used as supporting structures, and its softness makes the foam subject to damage by conditions that would not affect concrete. Still, expanded polystyrene has sufficient advantages over concrete such that it is being used in the prior art for non-structural, decorative and architectural trims in the building trade.
The light weight of expanded polystyrene is an advantage that makes installation onto a building less difficult than concrete (or stone, or plaster, or metal, or any other hard and dense material). In the prior art, a typical installation of a expanded polystyrene architectural trim included attaching the trim to a wall by a construction adhesive or by mechanical fasteners or by a combination of the two. Further finishing and or attachment of the prior art expanded polystyrene trims may then occur by use of a mesh material applied over the attached trim, by use of a sprayed material that thereafter becomes hardened, or left as applied in its uncoated condition, with final finishing being accomplished by painting or by the application of a stucco finish and then painted. The desired final appearance in the existing prior art is usually, but not necessarily, different from that of the building structure in order to accent the architectural shape and distinguish it from the rest of the building or for accent purposes.
The use of expanded polystyrene has shown the viability of replacing architectural trim that typically was made from a concrete or stone, with a lightweight plastic. Still, expanded polystyrene is not without its own problems—due mainly to its inherent properties. Expanded polystyrene is time consuming to manufacture and install and is not durable. It is not subject to fine detailing; and, therefore, results in a rather coarse appearing decorative trim. The finishing procedure is both difficult and time consuming and at times, the resulting appearance is undesirably distinguishable from the building structure and not as intended. Once installed, the expanded polystyrene trim is subject to impact damage and weathering. Because of its tendency to be damaged, expanded polystyrene cannot be used for any application where impact accidents are expected to occur or where frictional contact with another object is common. Moreover, repair of damaged expanded polystyrene is difficult and often the repaired results are not satisfactory in that the repair is readily visible. As a result, its use is rather limited.
Thus, while expanded polystyrene provided advances to the prior art of architectural shapes and trims, it did not provide a complete solution. What is needed are apparatus and methods that allow the use of lightweight plastic for architectural shapes, trims and even walls, that have the capability of providing fine details, that allow for finishes that accent or distinguish the architectural shapes from the rest of the building, or that match the building, that provide finishes that are virtually identical to the finishes and appearances of products found in nature, that resist damage even when subject to abuse, that are durable over a long period of time, that are not adversely affected by weather, that give the appearance of concrete or other like material, that give the appearance of being an integral part of the building, that can be used internally and externally, and are easy to install and finish.
The present invention accomplishes these objectives.